Donald Trump has rejected suggestions that the warming of relations between China, Russia and their allies poses a challenge to the US on the global stage.
The US president told reporters in the Oval Office that he had “a good relationship” with President Xi Jinping and that China “needs us more than we need them”.
It comes as Xi prepares to host world leaders at a “Victory Day” parade in Beijing on Wednesday – a showcase of China’s military might.
Xi will be joined by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, viewed by some observers as a message to the Western nations that have shunned them.
China has sought to position itself as a possible counterweight to the US since Trump’s tariffs rocked the global economic and political order.
Trump has pitched his tariffs as essential to protecting American interests and industry. It appears that any diplomatic cost is something he is willing to pay.
Asked by the BBC if he believed Beijing and its allies were attempting to form an international coalition to oppose the US, Trump said: “No. Not at all. China needs us.”
He added: “I have a very good relationship with President Xi, as you know. But China needs us much more than we need them. I don’t see that at all.”
Separately, in a radio interview on Tuesday, Trump said he was not concerned about the axis forming between Russia and China.
He told the Scott Jennings radio show that America has “the most powerful military forces in the world” and that “they would never use their military forces against us”.
“Believe me, that would be the worst thing they could ever do,” he said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Putin, after they failed to reach a peace deal for Ukraine during their meeting in Alaska last month.
“I’m very disappointed in President Putin, I can say that,” Trump said, adding that the US “will be doing something to help people live” in Ukraine. He did not specify.
China has not criticised Putin’s full-scale invasion and has been accused by the West of aiding Russia’s war effort through its supply of dual-use materials and purchases of Russian oil. Beijing denies this.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was engaged in a new troop build up along certain sectors of the frontline.
“[Putin] refuses to be forced into peace,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.